Young Justice: Final Exam
by batman4life
Summary: Dick Grayson. Wally West. Roy Harper. Individually, they've proven that they can fight with the best heroes Earth has to offer but as a team they must now prove that they can contend with the very worst of humanity: lowlife mobsters, egomaniac masterminds, and career criminals wielding weapons of mass destruction. Note: This story takes place before the events of YJ: Season 1
1. Chapter 1

" _Final Exam"_

 _Gotham City_

 _11:27:35 P.M. EST_

* * *

The full moon illuminated the starry night sky of Gotham City, bathing the Gothic architecture in its all-encompassing lunar glare.

Its modernized outward appearance does little to conceal its corrupt criminal underbelly, with the threat of criminal activity permeating every street and dark alleyway. Besides the towering skyscrapers and factoring puffing out pillars of smoke, decades-old art deco-styled warehouses and cathedrals lined up the maze of streets and sidewalks that stretched for miles across the industrial terrain.

On one particular warehouse however, three male figures patrolled the rooftop of the building.

They were each dressed in tactical army gear, wearing infrared visors to spot any unusual activity in the vicinity while brandishing sleek automatic rifles. Bandoliers containing grenades and various melee weapons slung around their Kevlar vests.

Each man warily paced back and forth through his edge of the rooftop, routinely inspecting their weapon or checking the time while constantly staring up at the skies. In the middle of the trifecta of guards lay a single rectangular skylight, surrounded by various air conditioning units.

One of the armed thugs paced to the edge of his side of the rooftop, surveying the nighttime horizon for a moment with his infrared vision. Detecting no sign of vigilante inference from above, he rested the stock of the rifle against his shoulder before checking his magazine count.

Oblivious to him, a lone shadow suddenly darted behind him. The silhouette disappeared around one of the air conditioning units just as he turned around and began to retrace his steps.

A soft clinking sound quietly pierced the ground next to him, giving the wary guard pause for just a moment. Taking a knee next to the peculiar object now protruding from the concrete floor, he began examining it while remaining completely oblivious to a silhouetted male descending down on him from above.

Making it out to be an arrowhead with an erect grappling cable tied at its end, his eyes widened as the sudden realization hit him- both figuratively and literally.

"Oomph..." A split second later, the figure slammed into him knees first, the aerial momentum knocking him down and out with his rifle quickly spiraling out of his grip.

Crouching next to the unconscious man, the mysterious figure reached for his cylindrical-shaped container strapped to his back and produced a crimson-skinned arrow while snapping out his collapsible recurve bow.

Quickly knocking the arrow against the bow and pulling the string back to prime the slender projectile, he used his dominant eye to pinpoint his next target: another one of the still oblivious guards.

The guard closest to him yawned as he continued to scope out the surrounding vicinity, ignoring the whining sounds of late-night traffic unfolding on the streets below.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha…" The sound of adolescent laughter emitting from his right immediately pricked his ears, prompting him to snap backwards with his gun poised to fire in that direction.

Seeing no one there, he relaxed his stance slightly while still keeping his weapon trained on any sudden movements. Spotting the closest air conditioning unit, he began to approach it warily while neglecting to watch his periphery.

Just as he was about to circle around the machine, the arrow fired by the shrouded archer intercepted him mid-step. The arrowhead itself exploded as it released its contents, a pair of steel bolas that tore across the air before wrapping around his torso.

In his surprise, his body instinctively jerked forward causing him to drop his weapon as the bolas pinned his forearms to his waist.

When he glared up, he was greeted by a swift right hand that knocked his visor off while sending him reeling backwards. A noticeably smaller figure kicked off of the air conditioning unit and took to the air while the partially restrained guard could only wince in pain.

Landing on his unprotected back and quickly maneuvering his child-like frame around the adult male's torso, he captured the man's neck in a front facelock and swung his body clockwise using the forward momentum to his advantage.

While falling backwards, the smaller figure tightened his grip on the man before dropping him facefirst on the ground.

Feeling the man's heavyset frame quickly grow limp following the resounding thud of his forehead hitting the ground, the shadowed figure sprung up from the ground and reached into his utility belt as the sound of a gun being cocked alerted him to the next hostile.

About to hurl the shuriken-shaped projectile at the final guard who simultaneously had him in his sights, their impromptu standoff was halted when a red-and-yellow blur suddenly whizzed by him.

His index finger pressed down, but instead of a trigger his curled appendage found only empty air.

"What the…?" Staring down incredulously as his automatic weapon literally vanished in thin air, he was surprised yet again when the same blur flew by him again only with something different in mind.

"Uugghhh…." He staggered backwards as the blur rocked him with a lightning-quick right hand to his chin. Not even a nanosecond later, the blur reappeared behind him and struck him yet again with another fist to his jaw.

Arms hanging limp by his sides and knees threatening to buckle, he was finally knocked down and out by an emphatic right cross courtesy of the blurred speedster.

Standing over the barely stirring guard, he turned back towards the other two figures who met next to the skylight.

Racing towards his other two teammates at a pace that defied even Olympic-level paces, he rejoined the two as they gathered around the skylight. The blue hue that lit up the skylight quickly illuminated the trio, revealing their quite conspicuous costumes.

The tallest of the three was the archer, clad in crimson red garb reflective of his mentor Green Arrow. His bright yellow utility belt, feathered hat, quiver strap, gloves and boots contrasted sharply against his predominantly red tunic, with sleeves ending at his forearms and a domino mask that stretched across his face to conceal his identity. Nocking an arrow from his quiver against his recurve bow, the slits on his domino mask narrowed as they focused in on the scene unfolding beneath the glass panels.

To his right, the red headed speedster eagerly cracked his knuckles while stretching for the next challenge. Fitting his red-and-yellow aesthetic, his suit waist down consisted of lightly padded red pants with yellow track shoes while his torso was colored bright yellow stretching all the way to his red gloves. His protective mask, complete with twin lightning-shaped earpieces and a pair of crimson goggles, covered his face all the way up to his temple, leaving his unkempt auburn hair open to the elements. Finally, an emblem of a red lightning bolt enclosed in a white circle was emblazoned as the centerpiece of his suit, the same symbol as his mentor the Flash.

The smallest of the three was the caped and cackling vigilante, partner to the feared and almost mythical Dark Knight himself. His protective body armor consisted of a red vest with three rectangular fasteners that covered his torso and ended at his biceps. His cape, sleek black on the outer lining but shaded yellow on the inside, draped around his shoulders. A stylized black _R_ surrounded by a black circle emblazoned on his chest. A golden utility belt fastened around his waist, with black leggings covering his legs and custom-designed athletic shoes on his feet. Bangs of unkempt and unruly raven black hair hung down from his hairline, barely missing his domino mask.

Locking eyes with each other, Speedy, Kid Flash, and Robin respectively, nodded in affirmation before entering the warehouse.


	2. Chapter 2

_"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would indulge me for just a moment longer please riddle me this: what's black and white and red all over? It's a riddle so easy, even that zombie Solomon Grundy finds it breezy."_

"I know I know, how about Penguin after I beat the ever-loving crap outta him?"

"How about you just tell us before I beat _you_ black and blue, Riddler?"

Flashing his increasingly impatient audience an almost Cheshire cat grin, the self-proclaimed intellectual savior of the criminal underworld was almost giddy watching the more notable faces of criminal factions and organizations strain their collective brains trying to decipher his seemingly elementary riddle.

Dressed in a flamboyant green two-piece suit, he wore a floral green jacket contrasted by a purple tie with a question mask emblazoned on his left shoulder. Waist down, he wore black pants, green sneakers, as well as a green belt with a question mark-themed buckle. His light brown hair was slicked back, along with a pair of triangular purple-rimmed glasses that perfectly accentuated his naturally arrogant facial expression.

Towering above his criminal congregation on a makeshift auction stage, he was surrounded by a circle of opened crates, each one filled to the brim with illegal weapons and objects of superhuman power.

All around him, he faced a multitude of various personas of the criminal variety. On one side of the stage stood the Rogues of Central City: Captain Cold, Heat-Wave, and Boomerang. Individually they were career criminals wielding almost godlike technology but as a collective they were a force formidable enough to slow down even the fastest man alive.

The master of subzero headed the trio representing the faction, discerned easily by his clear blue parka and cold gun. His snow motif contrasted his partner in crime, Heat-Wave, who wore his standard fire resistant gray asbestos suit that covered him head to toe. On his shoulder holster, he carried his equally as dangerous handheld flamethrower. The third member, Boomerang, was the wild card of the group. Dressed in a navy blue trench coat with a bandolier of his specially-designed boomerangs strapped around his shirt, the Australian criminal straightened out his white scarf while lazily twirling around one of his boomerangs on one hand.

A gathering of representatives from criminal organizations and families filled out the middle section, with names ranging from Falcone and Bertinelli to Maroni and even Black Mask. They were flanked by hired help, mainly lesser-known supervillains like the Electrocutioner with his electrically charged gauntlets, Javelin the Olympic athlete turned mercenary with a deadly javelin-based arsenal, and Onyx, a katana-wielding female assassin-for-hire.

On the opposite side stood the main leadership of the infamous Metropolis criminal organization, Intergang. Bruno Mannheim, the stocky and heavyset leader, crossed his arms unimpressed while his lieutenant, a slender redheaded Caucasian woman by the name of Whisper O'Daire looked on with equal apathy.

"Hey Nygma, why don't you just get on with it, yeah? Some of us have places to loot and people to rob," the ever outspoken Boomerang complained in his thick Australian accent, eliciting murmurs of agreement from his Central City comrades.

"Yeah green man, you've been talking a whole lot but I'm not hearing anything I like. And if none of your bargain bin crap can't do what me, a pair of matches, and some booze can't do on a Friday night then you're just wasting our time. And I _hate_ having my time wasted," Heat-Wave growled in his gruff voice, echoing a common sentiment amongst the Riddler's increasingly agitated audience.

"Mick may be an idiot, but he's got a nose for sniffing out B.S. And if you brought us here in the middle of Bat Country just to spout your big words at us, you're not gonna like how this ends," Captain Cold added ominously, gesturing at his holstered cold gun.

"Yeah!" Mick Rory nodded, until Snart's words fully sunk in. "Wait, what did you call-?"

"Patience, gentlemen. Patience. I know I can be a bit….superfluous, perhaps overzealous in my presentation but I can assure you that this next item will be more to your liking. Especially with your predilection towards weapons with long-range capabilities," the Riddler smiled, beads of nervous sweat beginning to form in his brow as he began fidgeting with the item behind his back.

"Mate, I don't even know half of what you just said. Can ya just get on with it?" Boomerang sighed, exasperated.

"Well since none of you are privy to answering my riddle, I suppose I'll just skip to my _pièce de résistance._ You all remember the Royal Flush Gang, right?"

"Bunch of rich pricks who like to roleplay as playing cards? Yeah, I've had the misfortune of hiring their services once," one of the lieutenants scoffed, rolling his eyes irritably.

"Once." Nygma flashed him a coy smile, before unveiling the prize possession of the crime family from behind his back and brandishing it before them.

It was the King's Scepter, a golden rod with ceremonial gems adorned around its crown jewel, an equally golden hook-shaped discharge scoop. Spanning about one and a half feet long, it was the ultimate symbol of status and power wielded by the patriarchal head of the Royal Flush Gang.

Riddler's smile immediately widened when he noticed the sudden shift in facial expressions amongst his audience, from bored and irritable to piqued and interested.

"Oooh. Shiny," Heat-Wave snorted dismissively, as Riddler continued to brandish his weapon.

"Yes, the Royal Flush Gang committed the ultimate cardinal sin: thinking they could outsmart the Riddler. But suffice to say, they saw the light soon enough and aptly regretted their mistake. Enough to leave me their prize possession, in fact," Riddler smiled, his eyes glistening sinisterly to imply a backstory far more gruesome than he was willing to let on.

"You see, this serendipitous scepter is not only decorative, perfect for display at wherever you beautiful people may dwell but its combative functions are quite extensive. Take for example its centerpiece, a trophy from their last break-in at the Hall of Justice. Powered by the stars, this 'cosmic rod' of sorts can discharge great bursts of solar energy capable of melting even the Man of Steel. And for those oh so pesky do-gooders who just won't get out of your way when you're trying to make an honest living, well…"

Lifting the scepter towards one of his crates, he punctuated his lingering sentence by merely fixing his bemused gaze on the wooden container. Almost immediately, a glowering golden aura illuminated the entirety of the crate, before propelling it upwards into the air as Riddler raised his forearm.

"Why resort to mortal weapons to get the job done when you can harness the power of the gods themselves? Anything you can think of, this rod can do and so much more. More than any of you can ever imagine," Riddler continued to boast, setting the crate back done once he saw the incredulous looks on most of his audience.

"I'll give all of you a moment amongst yourselves," he added, crossing his arms confidently at his audience who were now chattering amongst themselves excitedly in light of the Riddler's potential show-stealer.

"I say we take the shillelagh, beat up Riddler, then the rest of these fools. Then we celebrate with beer. Lots of beer!" Heat-Wave proposed, looking to his fellow criminals for camaraderie.

"We have a code, Mick," Snart sighed irritably, before eyeing some of the crates onstage with renewed interest. "Besides, if the other crap that Nygma's got is even half as good as that rod then we can finally take the Flash and that new kid down for good."

"Yeah, and I'm not itching to have Nygma sic his mates on us after they took down Royal Flush. Besides Mick, with this kind of hardware not even the Justice League can stop us from our next big score," Boomerang pointed out, a point that Rory begrudgingly conceded to.

However on the other side of the warehouse, the brain trust of Intergang was less than impressed with Riddler's display.

"Why are we even entertaining this fool, Bruno? Our partner's got tech far more advanced and useful than this hack, and he's been giving it to us for free," Whisper whispered angrily in her boss's ear.

"Yeah, _alien_ tech. Don't know about you, but I'd rather have something I actually understand than take the word of some freak from another galaxy who claims he has weapons of the gods," Mannheim pointed out.

"Either way, this is wasting our time. These Central City losers may be buying what Nygma's selling, but I bet whatever that space freak has in his inventory far surpas-"

"O'Daire, I pay you for two reasons: to watch my back and look good doing it. Since when is questioning my executive decisions in your job description?" Mannheim suddenly snapped.

Whisper merely glowered at him resentfully, but predictably bit her tongue.

Seconds later, Riddler cleared his throat loudly to resume the auction process.

"Now, let's talk prices, shall we? I'm a fairly open-minded guy, but these suits aren't exactly cheap if you know what I mean," he smirked confidently, twirling around the scepter as the criminals deliberated amongst themselves for a moment longer before reaching a consensus.

One of the mobsters representing the Bertinelli family nodded at his colleagues before stepping forward to place the initial bid.

"$10,000," he stated firmly, an offer that would seem most generous to anyone but the egotistical auctioneer.

"Good start, but put an extra 0 or two at the end and I'd say you're getting closer to what I'm envisioning for this."

"How about $15,000 and my boys don't chain you up and drop you to the bottom of Gotham Harbor tonight?" one of Black Mask's enforcers growled impatiently.

"$20,000," Captain Cold said, glaring daringly at the other mobsters who met his inviting gaze.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your contributions while satisfactory leave something to be desired, if I may be so bold. I'm offering you all extensive protection against the entire Justice League _and_ serving time at Belle Reve Penitentiary and in exchange I think you could all dig just a little deeper into your wallets," the green-garbed intellectual spouted over confidently.

"$25,000," one of the henchmen scoffed, crossing his arms expectantly.

"30,000," came another gruff voice.

"$50,000," Bruno finally spoke up, ignoring the annoyed look on his lieutenant's face as he placed his bid.

"Mr. Mannheim, despite your utterly erroneous epithet you are a beautiful, beautiful man," Riddler gleamed adoringly, his eyes already flashing dollar signs at this new prospect.

"Don't patronize me Nygma. These posers already have trouble robbing banks and stealing old ladies' purses as is. Intergang's operations need this kind of protection," Mannheim scoffed indignantly, crossing his arms as Whisper leered at the now irked congregation.

"So do the Rogues, haircut. See, while you were running your little bush league operation in Metropolis we were putting the fear of man in the fastest man alive. Even with that new brat of his, the Flash knows we've got his number and it's only a matter of time before we'll have him dead to rights, probably sooner with this hardware. So by my calculations I'd say we'd be doing all of you a favor. Besides, when's the last time you Intergang hacks have ever gotten a job done without needing Lex Luthor to bail you out?" Captain Cold shot back, opening the verbal floodgates between the two criminal factions.

"When's the last time you Central City knockoffs actually completed a job worthy of Lex Luthor's attention? You talk a big game Snart, but we both know why you carry around those ridiculous novelty toys. Fancy guns with no bullets in them," Whisper spat angrily.

"Nice one, love. But I'd wager my 'novelty toys' can get the job done alright. I'd be happy to demonstrate if you fancy a little target practice," Boomerang piped in, slowly peeling back his trenchcoat to reveal his arsenal of specialty boomerangs clipped against the fabric.

"Ladies and gentlemen please, we're all professionals here. There is no disputing each of your individual talents and prowess with your weaponry. But for the sake of this auction where the price is determined entirely by ego and one upmanship, what does this accomplish? Wait, on that note please continue," Riddler smiled, the irony of his words apparently lost on the two factions currently waging verbal war while the other crime families merely spectated with growing disinterest.

"First of all, Intergang doesn't work for the best. We _are_ the best. And unlike you posers, we don't need no gimmicks to get the job done. And let's call a spade a spade, Leonard. You Rogues aren't even in our division let alone league. No need to embarrass yourself further thinking that this cosmic rod means you can hang with the big boys," Bruno tore into the leader of the Rogues, who merely scoffed dismissively.

Standing his ground, Captain Cold amended his initial offer. "$75,000, and if you're the big leagues no wonder Superman doesn't even bother cleaning up your messes anymore. With your track record now, he probably has more trouble saving a cat from a tree. I'd start thinking twice, Bruno. Don't want to blow your budget on your next botched operation."

A brief smirk crossed Mannheim's face before firing back, "Likewise, Snart. Ya know, didn't think you had the fortitude but I'll bite. $80,000, and that's just from one offshore account Intergang has set up in places you aren't important enough to know about. Don't strain yourself trying to measure up to that."

"$100,000," Snart replied coolly, locking eyes with the equally bull-headed leader of Intergang.

"$125."

"$150."

"$175."

"1 Million Dollars!"

Every single head turned towards the direction of the adolescent sounding voice, emanating from above. Even Snart and Mannheim momentarily halted their verbal game of one-ups-manship to direct their attention towards the source of the voice from above.

All in unison, their collective eyes fell on the unlikely trio of Robin, Kid Flash and Speedy all positioned on the metal catwalk next to the ceiling scaffolding.

The teenaged speedster stood front and center with his signature jovial grin, the Boy Wonder playfully brandished one of his escrima sticks while (poorly) concealing a childish snicker through his other glove, and the ever vigilant Speedy had a trick arrow drawn back and aimed at the gathered mass of criminals.

"Sorry to break up the bromance, but you guys are seriously boring me to tears. And I stake out places with Batman of all people," Robin mocked while leaning against the railing.

"Yeah, and what's with the not-so-secret supervillain auction? You guys should've just put up a neon green sign outside if you were that desperate for attention. Now, I get Intergang wanting to be relevant again, but I expected more from you Snart," Kid Flash playfully scolded, his youthful swagger and cocky attitude only infuriating the leader of the Rogues even further.

"Well, it seems we have some unsupervised children who decided to involve themselves in matters that did not concern them. As responsible adults, it's only appropriate that we correct their impertinent and truly unacceptable behavior," Riddler smiled from corner to corner, secretly relishing the sudden solidarity that formed between the previously antagonistic factions.

"Screw that, Nygma! I say we kill 'em!" one thug declared, pounding his fists together while remaining oblivious to the Riddler's sarcasm.

"Been waiting a long time for this, bird boy," one of the Black Mask enforcers grinned, shaking off the initial surprise and cocking a handgun.

"Yeah, when we get done there won't be enough of ya to send back to the Bat!"

"Snart, I changed my mind. If any of you three can kill the brats before I do I'll let you have the rod," Bruno growled menacingly, reaching into his jacket for a weapon as his redhead lieutenant did the same.

"Much obliged, Mannheim," Cold nodded in appreciation, before producing his patented cold-gun. "Daddy Flash isn't here to save you this time, kid."

"You're right, Snart. At least now you can't talk your way out of getting your butt handed to you twice by yours truly," Kid Flash shot back confidently.

"Auction's over. You have two options. Option A: you all put down your weapons, walk out of here in handcuffs and sing kumbaya all the way to Belle Reve. Option B: you make this a lot more painful on yourselves, and get stretchered there anyways," Speedy declared simply, his ultimatum as straight-forward as the arrow currently drawn back towards them.

A brief silence was exchanged between the criminal congregations as they considered his ultimatum, one that naturally only lasted for a few seconds.

While the bass in his voice perhaps would've intimidated some of them individually, as a collective they all burst out into laughter much to the archer's chagrin.

"Told ya we should've went with my line," Kid Flash whispered sarcastically to the now annoyed archer, keeping his arrow drawn as the rambunctious laughter finally began to die down.

The gathered factions and crime families continued to exchange amused glances and smirks before brandishing their melee weapons, specialty weapons and automatic guns, with only the Riddler quietly backing away from the center stage to avoid being caught in the impending crossfire.

"I prefer Option C, mate," Boomerang smirked deviously, before snapping out a boomerang from his coat and hurling it towards the heroes.

At that very moment, all hell broke loose.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as the Australian loudmouth hurled the explosive boomerang towards the trio, they immediately sprang into action.

The crimson archer released his arrow a split second later before leaping over the railing, Robin vaulted over the top metal bar, and Kid Flash streaked across the runway and down the stairs to face them all head-on.

 _BOOOM!_ The two projectiles collided in mid-air and detonated in a sizable aerial explosion that briefly clouded the grounded men's aim while at the same time the deafening sound briefly pounded at their eardrums.

As soon as the smoke cleared, the Gotham City thugs immediately opened fire with their automatic weapons. A tidal wave of lead swept over the catwalk where the heroes had been standing on just seconds earlier, completely demolishing the railing and floor grating.

Robin took flight briefly with his cape turned makeshift glider, allowing him to maneuver around the hailstorm of bullets following him. Diving down behind a mountain of industrial-sized crates towards the back of the warehouse, he quickly slammed his back against one of the metallic containers for cover against the barrage of bullets.

To his right, Speedy crouched down next to a container with another arrow drawn across his bow. Briefly stealing a glance over the top of the container to pinpoint his next target, he turned back to the Boy Wonder and motioned towards the firing gunmen.

Robin nodded back in affirmation and began reaching into his utility belt as Speedy briefly stepped out of cover and drew the arrow back against his cheek, letting go of the plastic feather and then retreating back behind the protective covering.

 _RATATATATATATATATATAT!_ Submachine guns and pistols barked violently in their owner's grasp as they directed their metallic ire towards the besieged heroes behind cover. Amongst the crowd of enforcers and thugs systematically reloading and unloading their firearms, the Electrocutioner activated his shock gauntlets, Onyx expertly slid her katana sword out of its sheath and Javelin readied his cylindrical projectile.

Oblivious to all of them, the archer's trick arrow embedded itself into the ground just a few feet away from them. Within seconds of impact, the capsulated arrowhead automatically detonated into a cloud of white that quickly flooded the firing range and disoriented the gunmen, prompting an uneasy ceasefire.

Gagging and shielding their eyes from the thick smoke, the thugs caught directly in the blast radius stumbled and staggered towards each other blindly leaving the ones in the periphery of the detonation to become wary of friendly fire.

One distracted thug was caught off guard by a pair of bolas wrapping around his torso and disarming him of his weapon. Eyes widened in shock, he was met by another surprise as Robin lunged towards him and landed a flying drop kick to the midsection that downed him immediately.

Twirling around on his heel, he reached into his belt and driven by pure instinct flung a birdarang that disarmed a nearby Black Mask thug. Gasping as his automatic gun was ripped away from his grasp, he turned around only to have Robin kick off his slightly bent knee and rattled his teeth with a knee of his own then followed up with a jump spin kick in mid-air that sent him sprawling to the concrete floor.

As the man moaned and groaned into the floor, Robin's honed instincts took control and threw his body backwards into a roll as bullets peppered the ground he was just crouched on.

Retrieving his two escrima sticks from his belt, the Boy Wonder then disappeared further into the smoke to evade the trio of Falcone's enforcers currently gunning after him with military-grade assault rifles.

"End of the line, pipsque-aaaaah!" one of the thug's confident declarations was cut short when he was violently yanked backwards and out of sight, courtesy of a three-pronged arrow with a black cable attached to the nock that quietly clamped onto his jacket before its wielder yanked backwards.

As soon as their comrade disappeared from the fray and into the smoke the two immediately stopped firing and turned back towards the source of the sudden intervention, a mistake they would soon regret.

Not one moment later, Robin reappeared next to the second thug and after sprinting up his back leg and driving his knee into the small of his back while at the same time wrapping his forearm around his neck

With the other arm, Robin swiftly swiped at the other thug's face with his escrima stick with the blunt end of the weapon just catching him in the mouth to knock him down to one knee.

As the thug he was currently using as a human surfboard face planted down to the floor, Robin somersaulted forwards and rolled on his shoulder up to his feet.

Snapping backwards towards the dazed duo, he dashed back in to deal with the thug whom he had just barely grazed.

Rubbing his now bloody mouth sorely, he groggily raised his weapon only for Robin to knock it awry with a well-timed swipe of his baton before smacking him square between the eyes with his other stick and finishing him with a straight right hand with the same arm to knock him down for the count.

"You little…" Still wincing from the Boy Wonder's faux-chiropractic maneuver on his lower spine, he tossed his almost depleted rifle away for his smaller but more intimate handgun.

He was only able to get off a few shots that all missed due to Robin's hastened series of flips and rolls indicative of his acrobatic background. Upon his third roll, he hurled one of his escrima sticks towards the thug.

"Aaargh." The blunt end of the stick knocked the pistol out of his grip by hitting his wrist to force his fingers to slacken, leaving him wide open for Robin's charge.

Now in a kneeling position with his hand definitely throbbing from being hit, his pained grimace morphed into a surprised whelp as Robin kicked off of his bent knee and lunged forward while locking him in a headlock.

Taken aback by this unorthodox yet effective maneuver, the man's head was wrenched forward thanks to the surge of forward momentum and thus followed suit when Robin rolled to the ground.

While Robin's left shoulder took the impact and allowed him to spring back up while the thug tumbled to the floor and just barely managed to pop back up with his head just caught in a dazed cloud.

Effortlessly retrieving his fallen escrima stick, Robin turned around and succinctly delivered an overhead swing across the man's face that knocked him out cold.

 _Click-click._

Eyes widening in sudden realization, the teenaged hero twirled around with escrima sticks at the ready as a thug from behind towered above him with his machine gun cocked and finger at the ready.

 _Thwick!_ An arrow suddenly found its way onto the man's jacket, the cylindrical arrowhead upon impact instantly emitting an electrical discharge that arced around his body. Shrieking in pain, his agonized cries became more and more stilted as the electrical discharges took hold before his body immediately stiffened like a board and fell backwards.

As he collapsed to the ground with a grunt, Robin relaxed his stance and stood up as the ever punctual Speedy walked up to him after seeing that the arrow hit its mark.

"Save some for me, why don't you?" he remarked dryly with a sigh, drawing another trick arrow from his quiver as Robin put away his escrima sticks.

"Thanks for the save SP, but these guys and I go way back. Way to stay 'traught, by the way," Robin smiled in his usual boyish cadence, referencing the archer's stoic calmness even in situations like this where the odds most certainly aren't in their favor.

"Yeah." Noticing the smoke quickly evaporating as the silhouettes of nearby thugs became more and more visible, he turned back to his smaller teammate. "So, what's the plan no-?"

The words had barely left his mouth before he realized that Robin was now gone, vanishing into thin air in the same vein of his mentor.

"I hate it when he does that," he grumbled to himself irritably, before plucking an arrow from his quiver.

Responding to the clicking noise that suddenly emanated from his left, he knocked the arrow back while falling to one knee before releasing it towards its intended target.  
The arrow, hurtling through the air with a blunt weight in place of a pointed arrowhead attached to its tip, smashed into the gunman's jaw with the force of a professor boxer behind it and sent him falling to the ground in a dazed heap.

Pinpointing the sound of handguns cocking to his right, he twirled around with another trick arrow nocked at a pair of Black Mask's thugs aiming their weapons at him.

Just when he was about to let loose with his projectile, a red-and-yellow blur suddenly streaked past them. Seemingly brushing past them, they quickly shrugged it off and proceeded to fire.

The only problem was that their weapons were now missing and their hands were now grasping onto empty air instead of their guns.

"What the-?" one of them started to exclaimed incredulously, before Robin's silhouette swung into their vicinity utilizing his grapple gun and barreled into them both with his aerial maneuver catching them off-guard

As they tumbled to the ground, Robin delivered a quick succession of clubbing blows to render them unconscious before firing off his grappling hook again and propelling into the air to deal with more hostiles outside of the quickly dissipating smokescreen radius.

Now with the smoke completely gone, Speedy took a moment to survey his immediate surroundings for any more hostiles.

His eyes then darted to a yelling enforcer running at him armed only with a Bowie knife. Nocking the same arrow, he was just about to fire when a metal snake from behind suddenly coiled around his neck.

That metal snake turned out to be a sizable length of industrial-level chain that another thug threw around his neck and wrenched backwards, causing him to lose aim and instead re-focus his efforts on wrestling free of the metallic links biting against his collarbone.

"Hold him, Butch! I'm been waiting to do this ever since Robin Hood in Star City put an arrow in my kneecap," the thug with the brass knuckles grinned evilly, his eyes flashing with evil intentions as he brandished the knife menacingly.

"Hey, leave some for me, man!" the thug holding the chain complained, tightening the chain with every second that Speedy clawed at it and struggled to get free.

"Don't worry! I'll leave just enough of Pretty Boy here to-!" His smug diatribe was thankfully interrupted by the same yellow blur suddenly whizzing past him.

It took him only a second to realize that his weapon was now gone, and a second later Kid Flash returned with a lightning-quick haymaker punch to the jaw that had him sprawled out on the floor.

"What the-?" Taking advantage of the second thug's shock and awe, Speedy strategically aimed the arrow he had knocked downwards and let go of the bowstring.

The pointed end of the arrow pierced the man's foot, causing him to cry out in pain and loosen his hold over the redheaded vigilante.

Speedy then slammed the back of his head against the man's unsuspecting nose, sending him reeling backwards as he removed the chain from around his neck.

Now wielding his bow with both hands, he turned around and promptly swung the metallic limb into the man's midsection, effectively winding him before rearing back up and delivering a stiff clubbing blow across his face that knocked him off his feet and unto the floor.

Returning the recurve bow to its natural drawing position, he turned back towards the slightly out of breath adolescent speedster with his usual youthful enthusiasm on full display.

"Sorry...it took so long….. to get down here. Had….. to take out the snipers...on the second level," he explained between breaths, nodding towards the unconscious bodies that now littered the catwalk from above.

Speedy drew another arrow while eyeing the groaning thugs laying around in their wake. "Not complaining, but we need to focus our efforts on Snart's gang and Mannheim. It would help if we were at full strength."

Finally catching his breath, Kid Flash couldn't help but smirk as he stood up. "Try telling him that, dude. When I came back around, Rob was taking on Electrocutioner and that sword lady all on his own. I asked if he needed a hand, but he said he could handle it. Guess he learned that from Batman too."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Speedy sighed.

"Hey, I'll talk to him. Get him..to…" Kid Flash's words trailed off as the corner of his eye picked up a curved projectile currently hurtling towards their current position.

Eyes bulged in sudden realization and his superhuman reflexes kicked in as he zeroed in on the object: a specialty-made boomerang with a flashing light at its center.

"Get to cover! I got this!" Kid Flash commanded, stepping in front of Speedy and holding both arms out towards the rapidly approaching boomerang.

Rotating both arms in a clockwise motion at his usual superhuman speeds, his outstretched limbs became blurred conduits that generated a combined vortex that launched forwards and just in the nick of time managed to engulf the boomerang and propel it backwards.

Through maintaining the vortex with both arms continuing to rotate to generate the horizontal tornado, Kid Flash pushed the explosive out of range but was unable to stop what happened next.

 _BOOOM!_ The boomerang suddenly exploded into a fiery blaze that just barely managed to avoid scorching them both. Though they were saved from the incendiary properties of the weapon due to Kid Flash's quick thinking, a shock wave generated from the explosion launched the speedster off his feet and to the ground a few yards back.

Shielding his eyes from the initial flash of the explosion in a crouching position, Speedy quickly returned to his feet and leveled his bow at the thrower with a pointed arrow nocked across the bowstring.

His eyes narrowed in concentration as he faced down his adversary in this impromptu standoff, the versatile yet vile Boomerang, who wielded another object of his namesake in turn on one hand.

"Ya know, I've been itching to pay Green Arrow back for putting me in that ARGUS hole for quite a while now. I'll have a fair go at him soon enough, but killing his protégé should help even the odds, at least a little," the Australian told him, wearing his usual smug smile.

"I'm his partner, not protégé," Speedy grated through gritted teeth, eliciting an amused chuckle from the ever boastful Boomerang.

"Oh, touched a nerve, have we?" he mocked, playfully twirling around a boomerang before adding with a particular nasty smirk, "Let's see if we can't sever a few more, yeah?"

With that, he hurled the curved projectile towards the archer before reaching for another.

Firing off the arrow at the same time, Speedy watched as his arrow speared the spiraling boomerang in mid-air, halting its momentum and bringing it back down to the ground.

A second boomerang thrown by the Rogue was met with a similar fate, an arrow right through its center that now harmlessly fluttered back down to the floor between them.

Instinctively retrieving and nocking another arrow against his bow, Speedy maintained his squared stance in stark contrast to Boomerang's slightly frustrated scowl before being replaced with a reluctant smirk.

"You know how to use that bow, I'll give you that mate. But let's see how you deal with a triple threat." His last words were punctuated by his hand reaching even deeper into his trench coat and flinging a trifecta of boomerangs towards the apt archer.

Without blinking, Speedy released his first arrow before systematically reaching into his quiver and firing off another one in rapid succession. His initial volley of arrows hit their targets, spearing both boomerangs out of contention but in the process of nocking his third arrow the last boomerang nearly caught him by surprise.

Moving by instinct, he threw himself to the ground and rolled up to a knee as it knifed through the space previously occupied by his head before arcing back around towards him.

Aiming his bow at the curved projectile now swerving back towards him, he steadied his grip before firing the arrow off to hit its mobile bullseye.

 _BOOOM!_ As soon as the arrowhead tip pierced the metallic exterior the boomerang exploded in another aerial explosion.

Twirling on his heel back towards the Australian, he locked eyes just long enough to duck as another boomerang nearly lacerated his neck. Springing back up, he replied by firing off another pointed arrow towards Boomerang's outstretched right forearm.

Intercepting the Rogue mid-throw, Speedy's arrow knocked the boomerang right out of his hand while also cutting his hand in the process. As Harkness swore loudly while favoring his throwing arm, the archer nocked another trick arrow to put him down for the count.

"Guess you're not as good as you think you are," Speedy taunted, while keeping the arrow pressed back against his cheek at the now disarmed criminal.

Boomerang couldn't help but smirk at the young lad's audacity despite kneading his cut hand. "Oh, that's the thing about me, mate. I'm inevitable. Sure, you can avoid it at first. But…."

"Aargghh." Seemingly out of nowhere, the boomerang that Speedy had already dodged managed to swerve back around and clip him on the shoulder while returning to its thrower.

Forced to take a knee as a brand new wave of pain throbbed through his shoulder, he glowered up and seethed at the now smug Harkness who caught the boomerang with his good hand.

"It always comes back," he finished with a triumphant grin, examining the now crimson-dipped wing of his projectile before slowly assuming a throwing stance.

Still clutching his skin-deep but still searing shoulder wound, Speedy struggled to lift up his bow with the same arm but found the pain disagreeing with his choice.

Grinning from ear to ear in his trademark sadistic glee, Boomerang drank in the moment just a second longer before hurling the boomerang forwards with ease to deliver the _coup de grace_ to the currently incapacitated Roy Harper.


	4. Chapter 4

In the exact second that Harkness hurled his trademarked projectile ever precariously close to his unprotected face and torso, time itself seemed to operate in slow-motion for Roy Harper.

Despite the stoic nature of his domino mask, his eyes were flooded with nothing but raw emotion as he faced down the very weapon of his demise. In his moment of self-realization, his life as a costumed vigilante and partner to the Green Arrow was put into full perspective.

But for all the good deeds and friendships, what truly stood out in his mind were all the things he had yet to do: his yearning to be accepted by both friend and foe as an equal to his mentor, his desire to be admitted into the Justice League, his dream to be a hero in his own right.

However, in his emotional whirlwind what he failed to notice was the sudden gust of wind breezing by his right followed by a familiar blur materializing right in front of him.

A gloved hand plucked the boomerang right out of the air, mere inches away from his face. As the blur continued to dash forwards, Boomerang was none the wiser with his pompous smile still etched across his face.

However, he was certainly made aware when a lightning-quick haymaker courtesy of Kid Flash rammed full frontal into his face and knocked him backwards.

Shock soon yielded to slumber as the now groggy Boomerang staggered backwards into a 360 spin before finally stumbling forwards blindly and falling flat on his face, rendered unconscious.

Skidding on the floor to decelerate before grinding to a halt, Kid Flash tossed the boomerang aside before racing back to help Speedy up to his feet.

"Dude, I swear I'm not doing this on purpose!" he insisted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his half-mask as Speedy produced some light gauze from one of his belt pouches and tied it around his injured shoulder.

Switching bow arms, he nodded in appreciation at the slightly fatigued speedster. "Thanks, but we're not out of the woods yet."

" _Well ain't that an understatement!"_

Both teens twirled around to face the other Rogues, Captain Cold and Heat Wave who confidently sauntering towards them with their weapons primed and at the ready.

Drawing back another trick arrow, Speedy narrowed his eyes as he zeroed in on the duo while Kid Flash assumed a running stance.

"What, too much heat for you kids already?" Captain Cold sneered, his usual vindictive snark present even now.

"I _am_ the heat!" Mick deadpanned in his usual growl, a palpable fire in his eyes as he stared down the two vigilantes.

"Well well, if isn't the other two stooges! Look, if you guys are mad over what we did to Kangaroo Jack we'd be more than happy to spread the love," Kid Flash declared confidently.

In response, Snart merely chuckled to himself before hefting his weapon against his shoulder. "That's funny coming from you, kid. After all, how proud must the Justice League feel sending three boys to die attempting to do a man's job? Sure, they'll mourn once we send them your charred corpses but I hear they've got a pretty good track record when it comes to replacing their sidekicks. Now that's cold, even for me."

"Try this on for size," Speedy responded simply, before letting go of the projectile.

The arrow whistled through the air for maybe a few feet before it was suddenly encased in an icy block, courtesy of Snart's patented cold gun. Instantly weighted down by its now crystallized shell, it plummeted back to the ground and shattered into a dozen pieces at Snart's feet.

"Enough games," Cold scoffed impatiently, before levelling the gun at both of them. "Time to put you boys on ice, permanently."

"Put us on ice? Really, dude?" Kid Flash groaned, before crossing his arms and leaning against Speedy's shoulder. "Snart, ice puns are beneath you. Just like that arrowhead thingy lying on the floor right now."

"The wha-?" Looking down, Snart's eyes widened as he pinpointed the biggest shard of ice next to his boot, the same one containing a now blinking rectangular arrowhead.

As if on cue, the arrowhead exploded into a blinding white flash that instantly stunned the two Rogues, forcing them to shield their eyes until the effects of the flashbang arrow wore off.

"Can you hold them until I regroup with Robin?" Speedy asked him, drawing another arrow.

Adjusting his goggles, Kid Flash saluted his affirmative before dashing forwards and blitzing past both men. Managing to knock down Mick while only staggering Snart, the mere sight of his red-and-yellow blur brushing past both of them shook them out of their current stupor.

Angrily cursing under his breath, Snart re-focused his visor before taking up his cold weapon and, turning away from the lone archer, began firing icy beams at the speedster with his partner following suit.

Unfortunately, Speedy's temporary reprieve from the battle was suddenly interrupted by a narrow projectile hurtling towards at him at a breakneck pace from his periphery.

Moving on adrenaline and reacting by sheer instinct, the red-clad archer was easily able to duck and drop to one knee to evade the projectile as it knifed through the air, its sharpened metallic point just barely missing the hair on the back of his head.

Immediately standing back up with the projectile audibly _clinking_ into a nearby industrial crate, Speedy took aim at his next opponent: the Olympic-inspired mercenary known only as Javelin.

Clad in dark yellow body armor with sleek black protective pads outfitted around his elbows and knees, he continued to sprint towards the archer while reaching for another weapon of his namesake in one of the twin sheath holders attached to his utility belt. A ski mask covered his whole face, while his bulky body armor did little to conceal his Herculean physique.

In a single fluid motion, he unveiled a miniature version of a javelin which upon pressing a button expanded into a 6 feet-long spear which he expertly twirled in one hand.

Hesitating not a second longer, Speedy shot off the arrow he had drawn before reaching for another one.

Then, in a somewhat superhuman feat, Javelin managed to pluck the arrow out of its trajectory just as it reached its torso while maintaining his current pace. Twisting his hips around at the same time he caught the arrow, he spun around a full rotation in the air before flinging the arrow right back at its owner.

Almost caught-off guard by this unorthodox counterattack, the slits on Roy's mask widened as he fell to a knee to avoid being skewered by his own arrow.

 _CLINK!_ The arrow whizzed past his shoulder and pierced a nearby industrial crate, just barely missing him while leaving him momentarily vulnerable to the mercenary's next move.

As the archer rose up again, Javelin instead of throwing the projectile plunged it into the ground in front of him mid-sprint and after kicking off of his back leg vaulted into the air using the spear as a makeshift pole to gain vertical height.

Roy barely had an aimed primed when Javelin barreled into him full-throttle with a gargantuan drop-kick that launched him backwards off his feet and into the air.

Feeling every cold inch of the nearby industrial crate "cushion" his fall, Roy immediately grabbed at his midsection in pain before doubling over to the floor. Amidst his now dazed state, his patented bow-and-arrow slipped out of his gloved fingers and skidded across the floor out of his immediate reach.

Still trying to catch his breath after being effectively winded by the mercenary, he was forced again into the defensive as Javelin sprang back up to his feet and lunged forward with the spear in hand.

Rolling to the side to avoid the incoming metallic missile, Speedy clambered to his feet still clutching his midsection as the javelin pierced the exact spot his forehead was mere seconds before.

As soon as the sharp end of the spear embedded itself inches-deep into the metallic surface where Speedy's face just was, Javelin tugged it free and began stalking towards the now disarmed crimson archer.

Twirling the javelin around expertly with only one hand, the criminal eyed his slightly fatigued opponent while circling around him in a predatory fashion.

Bringing his gloved fists up in a defiant boxing stance, Roy also began circling around the mercenary warily while also briefly flickering his gaze at his now fallen bow that was now behind the spear thrower.

Cracking his neck eagerly before hefting the spear with both hands, Javelin studied Roy's body language for a moment longer before lunging forward for the kill.

Reacting in the nick of time, Speedy ducked his first forward thrust before skipping back to evade his second follow-up.

Bobbing his head again around his third jab, Speedy maintained his distance while strategically waiting for an opening in Javelin's offense to capitalize on.

And that moment would come when Javelin switched his strategy and instead opted for a downwards stab towards Speedy's legs, a move that the archer telegraphed and reacted accordingly.

First jumping up as the spear instead scraped against the floor, Roy twisted his body around mid-air and managed to deliver a resonant jump spin kick to the chin of the unsuspecting Javelin.

Sending him reeling backwards to taste his own blood momentarily, the martial arts maneuver only seemed to further infuriate the criminal who shook it off and was upon him again to continue the assault.

Launching a quick flurry of thrusts and jabs aimed at the smaller opponent, each of Javelin's increasingly sloppy attacks speared empty air as Roy continued to bob and weave backwards to avoid being impaled.

Finally seeing another opening, Roy sidestepped the umpteenth thrust to his midsection and pivoted on his heel towards the marksman.

Intercepting him before Javelin would rear his cylindrical weapon back and try again, he hooked the spear underneath his armpit and then aimed a sharp low kick to the back of the criminal's knee, his booted yellow heel digging into his shin as leverage to forcibly knock him down to a half-crouching position.

Then, he landed a particularly nasty forearm shot to the side of his head to stun him, causing his grip over the weapon to loosen. Twisting his hip against the metallic shaft to add extra body weight, Speedy wrenched the weapon free of Javelin's grip and tossed it aside before returning to the task at hand.

Encircling both forearms around his neck before wrenching back violently, Speedy squeezed his biceps tight around the larger man's collarbone and locked him in a sleeper hold.

Almost immediately, Javelin caught his second wind and began thrashing wildly to escape Speedy's sudden rear naked choke. His eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets as he sought desperately to relieve the immense pressure to his neck, but Roy's fingers remained clasped firmly together.

Despite his superior body weight, Roy's chokehold was beginning to eat away at the criminal's resilience with every excruciating second of deprived oxygen to the brain. Javelin tried everything from attempting to claw at Roy's mask to reaching for his fallen projectile with his fingertips just out of reach but to no avail. To guard against his desperation moves, Speedy coiled both legs around his waist and continued to apply the chokehold much to Javelin's pained chagrin.

Finally, in one last-ditch move the struggling criminal somehow found the willpower to stand up with the archer still leaning on his back. Speedy instinctively wrapped both legs around his midsection as Javelin groggily managed to find his footing, his biceps now squeezing frantically against the larger man's bulging veins to subdue him.

With his weapon out of arm's reach and vision dimming by the second, Javelin resorted to a desperation move and began to stagger backwards blindly.

Quickly building up speed with each step, Javelin then kicked out of the ground with newfound momentum while the vigilante soon found himself an unwilling passenger.

"Ugghh.." Groans and winces emitted from both adversaries as they slammed into a nearby industrial crate, Speedy's back taking the brunt of the impact.

As soon as the base of his neck smacked against the folded metal surface, the archer slumped forwards in a brief groggy daze allowing Javelin the opportune moment to wrestle free of the chokehold.

Now clutching Speedy's now limp forearm draped around his neck, he easily lifted the vigilante overhead and judo flipped him down to the ground.

Hitting the ground shoulder first, Speedy involuntarily rolled on the floor as the momentum from the throw tapered off. Finally tumbling to a rough halt, he rubbed the back of his head sorely while holding in a pained grunt only to realize that his yellow hat had fallen off in the process.

In the meanwhile, Javelin quickly regained his bearings and shook off the momentarily grogginess. Reaching into one of his rectangular sheaths, he produced another javelin and with mere flick of his wrist expanded it to its standard height.

Stalking towards the downed hero with the speared projectile brandished in one hand, he then raised the javelin above his head with both hands to deliver the final blow while Roy remained defenseless on the floor, or at least so he thought.

In actuality, Roy's right hand had discreetly reached into his quiver and procured a trick arrow which he hid underneath his vest while staring into the ceiling lights. Once his vision became clouded by Javelin's looming figure towering above him, he quickly put his plan into action in the hopes that it wasn't too late.

Just as Javelin was about to stab down, Roy plunged the arrow into the space between them, the arrowhead exploding upon first contact with the floor and releasing a massive pressure wave that knocked both combatants backwards.

While Javelin catapulted back to the same industrial crate that he had knocked Speedy into, Roy was rocked backwards in a dazed heap before finally landing on his sides and rolling on his stomach.

Groaning inwardly as he began to push himself up on his elbows and knees, he started to glare up only for his mask slits to immediately widen in surprise as his line of sight became shrouded in white.

Ducking just in the nick of time, Roy felt the icy cold touch of Captain Cold's signature cold-gun glide over his neck.

The resulting ice beam, narrowly missing his hairline, continued to race past him before finally splashing on the nearby wall.

Following that close call, his eyes darted upwards towards the source of the sudden ice blast.

Captain Cold and Heat-Wave had their backs to each other while facing opposite directions, firing off consecutive blasts of hot and cold at the adolescent speedster who was literally running circles around them.

Running a straight circle around to the two criminals, Kid Flash's face was a determined yet slightly fatigued grimace as he tried to pinpoint any opening between the two that he could swoop in and exploit.

"Stand still so I can burn ya!" Mick grumbled irritably, his reckless aim with the flamethrower a stark contrast to Snart's precise and measured ice beams that seemed to hit everything but Kid Flash.

Finally breaking the loop, the speedster skidded to a halt a few meters in front of them after apparently coming up with a new game plan.

Turning to face him, Snart and Rory nodded at each other before creating some distance between them.

"Getting tired yet?" Snart mocked, noticing his slight panting before slowly pacing around Kid Flash while Mick did the same.

"Of watching you two buffoons embarrass yourself? Not even close, but you do you, dude," Kid Flash smirked, a comment that made the self-professed master of absolute zero chuckle to himself.

"Only one way this can end, kid. The flame or the frost," Snart continued, gesturing at both of their weapons before continuing, "Now personally, I've been told having your insides frozen to the point of absolute zero is hardly the ideal way to go out, but I'm sure it beats whatever Mick has in mind."

"Yeah, and I've been told you guys are supposed to good at this kind of thing. Guess we've both been given faulty information, huh?" Kid Flash shot back, maintaining his cocky demeanor while warily eyeing both of their weapons as he began strategizing.

Rolling his eyes irritably, Snart was about to respond when Mick cut him off before the words left his mouth. "Enough talking! More burning!"

"For once, I agree with you old friend," Snart nodded, cracking his neck eagerly before re-training his sights on the speedster.

Going over his strategy one last time in his head, Kid Flash then took off towards them as simultaneous beams of fire and ice raced towards him.

Streaking in between them, he dropped down to a running slide just as their respective beams intersected at the spot where his cowl was mere moments before.

Still oblivious to Kid Flash's strategy, they inadvertently crossed the streams just as Kid Flash slid out of harm's way.

As soon as the icy beam of Captain Cold mixed with the crimson spray of Heat-Wave, it immediately set off a chain reaction that inevitably resulted in a dual shockwave that knocked both Rogues off their feet and sent them sprawling.

Coasting on his momentum by sliding forward on his elbows and heels, Kid Flash quickly jumped to his feet and created some distance to avoid being caught in the resulting shockwave.

Flung in opposite directions by the simultaneous malfunction of their weapons, Snart and Rory eventually landed on the floor more worse for wear. While Cold clung onto his weapon for dear life, Mick's flailing form in mid-air caused his handheld flamethrower to skid out of reach, at least for now.

Skating to a halt to survey what's happen, a smile crossed the speedster's face as he realized that his plan had come to fruition. However, the awe quickly wore off as he spotted Mick's previously prone body beginning to stir and come to.

"These guys just don't give up," he muttered to himself, before taking off again to finish the job.

As the arsonist began to crawl towards his fallen flamethrower, Kid Flash streaked towards him while racing past the downed Captain Cold. A mistake that he would soon regret.

Immediately sitting back up on his sides as soon as Kid Flash ran by, Snart trained his Cold gun on the floor ahead of the overzealous speedster.

Pulling the trigger, Cold sprayed the floor with a thin yet potent sheet of ice that the speedster unknowingly raced into.

"Whoa! What the-?" Kid Flash's running form was instantly disoriented as he struggled to maintain balance on the frozen runway, his arms flailing about wildly as well.

"Mick!" Snart called out, a command that easily reached the brute's ears and hastened his clambering up to his feet to met the speedster head-on.

Still skidding forward with no way to stop the momentum, Wally was nearly beheaded by a massive clothesline from Mick's left forearm.

Knocked off his feet and to the ground with authority, the youngster instinctively rolled out of hitting range while on the ground as Heat-Wave tried to shake the cobwebs.

Turning his back on the hero for the moment, the arsonist instead staggered towards his coveted flamethrower while Cold also began stumbling to his feet.

"Get your gun then follow my lead, Mick! We're ending this now," Snart barked angrily, regaining his bearings as he tried to shake away the dizziness.

With the two starting to regroup before advancing on the downed scarlet speedster, Speedy immediately snapped out of his spectator goggles and instead refocused his attention on attaining his quiver.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see that Javelin was also beginning to recover from the previous trick arrow and used the wall for support to find his footing.

With the quiver lying mere meters ahead of him, Speedy cast one more look at the criminal now reaching for his javelin before breaking into a frantic sprint towards the container.

Retrieving the javelin from the ground, Javelin quickly assumed a throwing stance with his eyes zeroing in on the archer scrambling desperately towards his quiver.

A smirk formed underneath his mask as he locked on to Roy's torso, before he lined the tip of the weapon up with his eyebrow and lunged forward to hurl the weapon forward.

At that very moment that Javelin threw the weapon, Roy threw himself forward in a mad lunge with his arms outstretched towards the arrows still inside.

His face contorted into a strained grimace as his right shoulder hit the ground just as the tip of the javelin began racing towards his outstretched midsection.

As Roy's gloved fingers touched one of the arrows just as the spear touched his suit's fabric, there was an audible piercing sound and then silence.


	5. Chapter 5

The metallic blade of the spear, hoping to bite into Roy Harper's flesh, instead scraped past his armored vest and instead clanged against the floor.

It only managed to nick a patch of Roy's shirt before gliding forwards, the shaft of the weapon missing Roy's midsection entirely before hitting the floor.

At the same time, Roy as he hit the floor retrieved one of the arrows, slung the quiver around his back, and knocked it back on his bowstring all in one fluid motion.

Javelin's mask slits bulged in shock as he realized that his weapon had not nailed its target, the brief moment of hesitation allowing Roy plenty of time to respond in kind.

So in shock and surprise was the criminal that he failed to register an arrow whistling past his cheekbone, nicking the fabric before piercing the wall directly behind him.

The cut quickly forming on his cheek caused a stinging sensation that finally broke him out of his haze, albeit too late.

By the time he came back to reality, Roy had already closed the distance between them and focused all of his momentum into an upwards swing of his bow towards Javelin's face.

Smacking him hard against his jawline, Roy followed up with another swing into Javelin's face that definitely rocked him backwards.

Grabbing onto his mask before lifting his front leg up, Roy planted his boot into Javelin's stomach and finally knocked him back into the wall while at the same time ripping away his mask.

The blonde locks of the now unmasked criminal flowed down his now bruised and battered face as he slumped back against the wall, a bloody and defiant snarl painted across his face.

But before he could retaliate, the same arrow protruding from the wall that Speedy had fired as a distraction suddenly exploded into a greenish cloud of anesthesia gas that quickly wrapped around his now unprotected face.

Instinctively breaking out into a violent coughing fit, his previously fighting spirit dissipated two involuntary huffs of the gas later. His body instantly slackened as the green gas enveloped his face entirely, and a second later his knees buckled followed by the rest of his body.

Collapsing facefirst to the floor, the anesthesia cloud hovered above him momentarily before disappearing in wisps.

Now with this Olympic-level threat neutralized, Speedy returned his attention to his current teammate in distress and nocked another arrow as the two Rogues slowly approached the still downed Kid Flash.

"Any last words, kid?" Snart gloated viscously, smiling from corner to corner as he looked down at the teenager now struggling to get up.

The two were now standing shoulder to shoulder in apparent victory over the speedster, their weapons trained on him with fingers at the trigger.

"Yeah, anything you want us to put on your tombstone?" Mick growled irritably.

Despite his current predicament, Wally couldn't help but break into a smile as he glowered up at the two super criminals. "Yeah...you guys...still suck."

"Charming. Mick, you do the honors," Snart sighed, wanting to get this over with.

The insane glint in his eyes only intensified as his finger wrapped around the trigger. "With plea-"

Mick's sadistic glee was suddenly cut short by a clawed arrowhead suddenly clasping around his outstretched gun arm, before quickly wrenching backwards towards Snart.

Snart was certainly caught off guard when Mick's right forearm flew back against his will, smacking him in the mouth with the muzzle of his flamethrower in the process.

"KF, move now!" Roy called out from behind, drawing another arrow as the two Rogues were thrown into momentarily disarray.

Taking advantage, Kid Flash surged forward towards the taken aback Heat-Wave and lunged forward with his right fist in an overhead arc.

Delivering a powerful haymaker that instantly staggered the arsonist, Kid Flash skated forward on his momentum as Mick reeled back on his heels.

Breathing again, Wally took off again and landed an even bigger blow to the bigger man's temple that rendered him unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Following Heat-Wave's unceremonious thud on the ground, Snart sprang back up spitting out a mouthful of crimson as his narrowed eyes darted between the archer and the speedster.

And despite the fact that he was now outnumbered, a dry smirk crossed his face as he eyed both of them. "Well now this hardly seems fair."

With that, he fired off a blast at Speedy who had just enough time to let off the arrow he had drawn back before rolling to evade the beam.

Ducking to avoid Roy's arrow, Snart turned towards the panting speedster and unleashed another miniature snowstorm from his Cold gun.

Taking off again in a circle to avoid Snart's blasts, Wally was just about to come back around to deliver a flurry of blows up close when his feet suddenly tripped on a small chunk of ice strategically placed by Captain Cold on the floor.

Catapulting off the ground, Kid Flash hit the floor hard as he tumbled into a painful halt writhing on the floor.

Satisfied at this, Snart turned back around and trained his weapon on the crimson archer who now had two arrows drawn.

"You never learn, do you?" he smirked, pressing the trigger just as Roy released the bowstring.

The first arrow that flew through the air was immediately encased in a rectangular block of ice that brought it back down to the ground while the second merely whistled past Snart's shoulder by a considerable margin.

Smugly raising his weapon as Roy reached for another arrow, Snart had him beat to the draw and the archer knew it as well.

"You missed," Snart sneered, pressing down on the trigger to freeze the archer.

At that very moment, instead of relishing the teenager's pain and suffering a blinding pain suddenly exploded into his body and bounced in all directions within his skeletal structure.

Screaming out in pain, Captain Cold's knees buckled as a few thousand volts of paralyzing electrical shocks tore through his body courtesy of a taser arrow that was driven into his shoulder by Kid Flash from behind.

The speedster had managed to retrieve the second trick arrow that Cold had nonchalantly dodged earlier, and with the criminal's back to him easily returned it to its original target.

Falling into a kneeling position, Snart nearly doubled over in pain as the literal aftershocks continued to course through his body. Thankfully, he was spared the full blunt of the discharges thanks to his insulated parka and body armor but only just. Squeezing his eyes to stay conscious, he made one last grab for his discarded weapon only for Kid Flash's yellow boot to rest firmly on the muzzle.

Glowering up resentfully, his bitter disdain was met by a resounding right hand by the speedster that knocked him flat on his back.

Kicking the Cold gun away with his foot, Kid Flash looked down at the now unconscious leader of the Rogues one last time before rubbing his shoulder sorely.

"Way to think on your feet," Roy remarked as he walked next to him, counting the arrows in the quiver that he still had left.

"Fastest kid alive," Kid Flash grinned sheepishly, meeting Roy's impressed gaze for a moment as he stood up. "Hey, you don't happen to have another energy bar, do you?"

"Sorry, fresh out. You getting tired already?" Roy smirked as he plucked out another trick arrow from his quiver,

"Tired of beating up the bad guys, no way man. But uh, I could do without my metabolism running out faster than I do," he admitted, referring to his accelerated metabolism caused by the super-speed.

Nodding in understanding, Roy wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead as he primed the projectile against his bow. "Well at this rate, we'll be eating at Big Belly Burger by the end of the hour so just try to power on through until then. Where's the Boy Wonder?"

"Well, if I had to guess…."

 _BOOM!_

A nearby explosion emanating from their right seemingly answered his question, the impact of said explosion knocking a pair of industrial storage containers awry in the process.

"I'd say maybe over there," Kid Flash deadpanned as if on cue, gesturing towards the giant cloud of smoke forming between the two containers.

Not long after the dust had begun to settle, Robin's silhouette drifted through the smoke towards them.

Suit still intact despite his close proximity to the explosion, he propelled forward in the air utilizing his grapple gun. Eventually disengaging the black hook wrapped around one of the ceiling chandeliers as he reached the end of his swing, he swiftly maneuvered his body into a forward somersault and landed gracefully on the ground.

Reclipping the gadget to his belt as he stood up, he still wore his signature jovial grin as he walked up to them casually.

"Guys, what took you so long? I'm been barely keeping myself 'whelmed tying up the goon patrol since we got here," Robin told them cheerfully, his boyish enthusiasm prompting his weary teammates to exchange glances.

"Yeah dude, we've been kinda busy fighting the Rogues and the goons you missed. Thanks for Batman'ing out on us earlier. _Again_ ," Kid Flash sighed.

Robin barely held in a snicker. "Wait, you guys had trouble fighting _Captain Cold_ and _Heat-Wave_? Not even the loons at Arkham take them seriously."

"Well, perception isn't always reality," Speedy admitted, before nodding towards the still smoking area ahead of them. "I see you've still got a few loose ends."

"Yeah, Falcone and Sionis got their money's worth hiring these guys for protection. I thought I could take them down easy like the rest, but…"

Sighing to himself, his smile quickly evaporated. "They're good, almost _scary_ good."

"Yeah, 'cause you're like twelve and they're both trained mercenaries! Rob, I know you and Batman took on that Assasin's Guild once but I'm pretty sure there's a huge difference between working with Bats and trying to go it alone," Wally pointed out, a point that the Boy Wonder reluctantly conceded to.

"League of Assassins," Robin corrected, before continuing to lament. "Pretty sure the sword lady's been trained by them too. But you're right, KF. Old habits still stuck in my head, you know. But, thanks for keeping me 'traught."

"Yeah dude," Kid Flash grinned affably, playfully nudging his best friend before adding, "Hey, what's 'traught mean again?"

"It means 'get ready,' Roy interrupted, calmly readying his bow and arrow as he peered ahead. "I see them coming now."

"Good thing we're sticking together then. They can't take all three of us," Wally stated hopefully, before putting his goggles back on

" _I wouldn't be so sure of that, boy!"_

All three of the adolescent adventures suddenly turned towards the direction of the booming male voice, emitting from the twin shadows becoming increasingly more defined as they walked out of the smoke.

First emerging from the shadows was the burly Russian behemoth known by his street name: The Electrocutioner.

His face resembled the typical criminal bruiser with a checkered past: scars running down his cheek, bloodshot blue eyes, and a black buzz cut to match. Neck down he was clad in alternating crimson-and-black body armor, with various protective plates strapped around his torso and joints. Red circuitry snaked around his custom-plated suit, with red wires looped around his forearms feeding into the twin electroshock gloves that were currently cackling with electric discharges arcing around the fabric.

Towering above the trio of heroes, he gleefully cracked his neck as he brandished the electric gauntlets that no doubt channeled enough electricity through his suit's wiring to render all three of them comatose.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear you three talking as if you had any chance surviving this encounter," he continued to sneer in a thick Russian accent, before nodding towards his feminine colleague also stepping out of the shadows.

Wearing a simple black jumpsuit with dark green highlights that clung tightly to her slender yet well-toned figure, her fists were taped up all the way to the fingernail. Her only other significant physical attribute would be her shaved head, a tradition from her previous criminal affiliation.

Slicing her prized katana through the area in a series of practice thrusts, she nodded towards the Russian enforcer before locking her eyes on them.

"My partner also echoes my sentiments," he smiled, as the last of the smoke finally vanished.

"Your clients are going to Belle Reve tonight, Butchinsky. I doubt they had much of a severance plan in mind, so this is your last chance to opt out before you join them," Roy stated, levelling his nocked arrow with the Russian's leering face.

"You are correct, but I never took the job for the money. No, I was hoping that the Bat would fly down from his nest so I could personally remove his head from his cowl once and for all. But since he refuses to show like a man, I'll be more than happy to remove the wings from his pet bird boy and kill his friends as well," he declared sadistically,

"Lester, we just talked through this. Batman isn't here because he doesn't take you that seriously. But if it makes you feel better, I'm kinda having an off night," Robin taunted, his words only infuriating the Russian further.

"Cute, child," Butchinsky scoffed, charging his gauntlets up to full capacity. "But Batman will learn to respect me after I end your life. I'm afraid your jokes will not spare you my wrath any longer. This ends now."

"Dude, you took the words right out of my mouth," Kid Flash smirked, as Speedy fired off the trick arrow.

In mid-air, the arrowhead exploded into a blinding flash of white light that forced the two mercenaries to shield their eyes while buying the adolescent trio a fleeting moment to strategize.

"KF, keep Butchinsky busy. We'll deal with her," Speedy instructed, reaching for another arrow as Robin produced two of his birdarangs.

Nodding in affirmation, the speedster bolted forward just as the two criminals regained their bearings.

Diverging off to the right, Kid Flash put most of his weight behind a shoulder block aimed the unsuspecting Electrocutioner. Just barely managing to knock him down to a knee, he nonetheless regained his balance back and continued to run forward.

Feeling his palms slap against the floor in this sudden turnaround, Butchinsky angrily pounded his electrical charged fists against the floor before chasing after the speedster.

Shielding her face from the flashbang arrow, Onyx quickly took off towards the remaining two heroes with Robin sprinting forwards to meet her.

Easily slicing through two birdarangs flung by the Boy Wonder with an expert flick of her wrist, she grasped the handle of the blade with both hands and slashed forward towards his approaching waistline.

Kicking off of the ground just as he heard the metallic hiss of the blade carving through the air, Robin in another feat of incredibly agility flipped over her sword and touched down on the floor behind her.

Still sprinting forward, she instead came face-to-face with Speedy now wielding his recurve bow as a blunt weapon and adjusted aptly.

Jabbing first with her katana at Roy's domino mask that he ducked, she aimed another upwards thrust to his throat that just barely missed his skin.

He retaliated with an upwards swing at her with the bow that she parried with her sword before slashing back at him to force some distance between them.

Instead of pressing forward, she suddenly turned on her heel and maneuvered her blade backwards to intercept Robin who had been attempting a surprise attack from behind.

The white ovals on his domino mask quickly bulged in surprise as the katana hurtled towards his unprotected throat at a breakneck pace.

It was only by instinctively falling back on his knees that the Boy Wonder was able to evade decapitation, instead watching the blade now centimeters in front of his face whistle by as he slid out of immediate danger.

Rolling up next to Speedy, he wiped a gloved hand against his sweat-drenched forehead before gingerly accepting a hand up to his feet by Roy.

"She's good," the archer remarked, drawing an arrow.

"Yeah….and we're not?" Robin countered in between panted breaths, a statement that made them both exchange looks before returning to Onyx who was almost mockingly twirling her blade around herself in practice swipes before making a come-hither motion with her free hand.

Meanwhile, only a few meters away Kid Flash was having similar luck against his opponent.

Skidding back on his heels following his second attempt to take the bruiser down, Wally's eyes frantically searched his protective suit for openings to exploit while the Electrocutioner couldn't be any more overconfident. With his hands on his kneepads and his auburn hair soaked in sweat, his fatigue was becoming more and more noticeable by the minute.

Confidently circling the fatigued speedster in a relaxed boxing stance, Butchinsky eagerly pounded his fists together in anticipation. "I see you're getting tired already. Perhaps you are beginning to accept the inevitable."

"Dude, the only thing inevitable is your receding hairline," Wally mocked dryly, before straightening his posture. "Look, I run laps around Central City with the Flash. This is nothing."

With that, he surged forward again this time with a clearer game plan in mind.

Ducking past the Electrocutioner's cackling right haymaker, he reappeared underneath his armpit and instantly unleashed a flurry of lightning-quick rights and lefts to his midsection. Targeting the unprotected flaps of under armor in between his armored plates, Kid Flash's punch-heavy offense finally began to affect the Russian who after taking a few more seconds of punishment lashed out desperately with a back fist.

Racing around his periphery and launching off the ground to gain some momentum, Wally then landed a momentous right hand to the larger man's jaw that rocked him.

Briefly reeling back before righting himself, Butchinsky spat out a mouthful of blood before turning back towards the youngster and gave him a look almost out of respect.

"That was good," he admitted, before rearing back his fist and aiming a right cross at him in turn.

Feeling the sparks on Butchinsky's glove sizzle as he raced out of harm's way, Kid Flash pivoted around on his boots before dashing back in to land another pivotal blow.

Only this time, the Electrocutioner was ready.

Almost sensing the speedster's presence zooming in from his unguarded left, Lester instinctively twisted his stance around and struck out with his fist, only this time connecting.

With great relish, he drove his electrically charged fist into the emblem of Kid Flash in a sudden gut punch that knocked the teenager off his feet. Catapulted backwards in the air, he hit the ground hard on his shoulder before unceremoniously flopping back down on his stomach.

As Lester wiped his bloody mouth, Kid Flash let out a pained wince as he remained doubled over on the floor. Thankfully, it was only the wind that was knocked out of him but for now the sudden jolt of a right hand was enough to keep him floored.

"That was better," Butchinsky added, before walking forwards to finish the job.

"Hah!" As Onyx lunged forward yet again with her sword slicing and dicing through the air, Roy gritted his teeth as he jumped back yet again to avoid being eviscerated.

Slightly panting with her sword extended, she paused for just a moment before charging forward again.

Dancing backwards in tandem with her seemingly nonstop barrage of thrusts and slashes, he nonetheless remained on the defensive as she exhausted nearly all of her arsenal.

Then, as she desperately attempted an overhead slash Roy ducked as expected but retaliated with some unexpected offense.

With his back now to her as he dropped down to the floor, she quickly reared back for what seemed like an academic downwards stab when the Boy Wonder suddenly flipped over Roy's bended shoulder and intercepted her.

Maneuvering his body even while vaulting over the archer's back, Robin connected emphatically with a swinging dropkick to her face that sent her staggering backwards groggily.

As soon as Robin dropped down to the floor, Roy popped back up with an arrow drawn and his target acquired.

Firing it off just as she started to swing her sword about wildly in an attempt, the projectile smashed into her katana handle and instantly knocked it out of her hand.

Her neck whipped back towards the sound of her weapon clattering harmlessly on the floor along with the arrow, leaving her vulnerable to what came next.

Kicking off of her bent knee and jumping upwards, Robin delivered a brutal right cross that snapped her head back towards the floor.

With the former League of Assassin incapacitated, Speedy and the kid detective turned towards their now fallen friend.


	6. Chapter 6

With every move Wally West made to get back up, his body seemed to reward his resilience with waves of searing pain now coursing through his midsection.

Still feeling the effects of the Electrocutioner's pulsating right hand, he was currently fighting off an urge to groan incessantly while glowering up at his leering opponent who sauntered towards him.

"I barely touched you, and here you are now. On the ground, unable to breath or stop what's happening." Manually increasing the voltage as he neared the redhead, Butchinsky grinned evilly as he continued. "Now, imagine what will happen when I-aargh!"

His premature gloating was thankfully cut short by an arrow suddenly piercing one of the exposed patches of suit in his back.

Wincing heavily while reaching back and ripping it loose, he whirled around to face down the crimson archer after tossing the arrow aside.

The next arrow fired by Roy was caught by the now incensed enforcer, who caught it just before it pierced his chest plate.

"Your spine will break- _like this_!" he snarled, demonstrating his visceral threat by snapping it in two at the same time.

Just as the Russian brute began to stalk towards the archer, Robin's circular birdarang rocketed by his periphery and managed to nick his outstretched right forearm.

"Aargghh…" A series of now cut wires suddenly popped free of the gauntlet's circuitry as Lester clutched his forearm in pain, a sight visible to the adolescent detective before he rushed over to Wally's aid.

The electrical discharges, as soon as the wires were sliced, began to fluctuate to lower intensities before eventually dying down in his right gauntlet.

Offering a shoulder for support to help the beleaguered speedster back up to his feet, Robin's eyes suddenly lit up in realization as Butchinsky

"Batman would kill me for not figuring this out already," he muttered to himself, mentally slapping himself for not deducing this during his earlier fight with Lester.

"Yeah, I'm fine by the way," Wally groaned, beginning to regain his footing again.

"SP, aim for the circuitry on his suit. That's what powers it!" Robin called out, his words also lighting a lightbulb in the archer's mind.

"Acknowledged." Drawing one of his last pointed arrows, Speedy rapidly sliced through a cadre of wires attached to Lester's hip before doing the same to some protruding from his shoulder.

Sorely clutching his shoulder as Roy's arrow speared through the circuitry and exposed his undersuit, he surged forward with his one remaining electric shock glove.

Dodging the sloppy haymaker easily by ducking underneath his armpit, Roy nocked another arrow but waited until Butchinsky instead punched the wall behind him.

Firing it off, the arrow punctured through the gauntlet's wires before pinning his undersuit to the metallic surface itself.

Walking up towards the now trapped criminal as he struggled to free himself, Roy wielded his bow with both hands before swiftly clubbing Butchinsky across the face with it.

As soon as the Electrocutioner's face whipped to the side from the sudden impact, his body followed suit and limply slumped down to the ground with his arm still pinned upwards.

Now towering above the Russian, Roy watched as his eyes rolled back groggily before walking back towards his teammates.

"I tell ya Rob, dude hits like a wrecking ball! Pretty sure I'm gonna need a bucket when we get back to base," Wally confided in the Boy Wonder while still clutching his stomach as Roy rejoined them.

"Now all that's left is to go find Nygma," Roy stated, nodding towards the now abandoned stage where the Riddler presided over earlier.

Even Wally perked up at that prospect. "Yeah, where is that guy anywa-ugh!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a crimson energy whip suddenly coiled around Kid Flash's throat, quickly constricting around his neck before jerking backwards violently.

The surprised speedster was thrown off his feet and away from his equally taken aback teammates, who whirled around towards the direction of this new threat.

Clawing at twisted snake of energy as it continued to tighten around his throat, Wally's face distorted into a pained grimace as he felt his body being dragged backwards towards the feminine assailant.

Whisper O'Daire's wryly smile only widened as she coiled up her end of the energy whip around her wrist, her eyes confidently flickering from Kid Flash's struggling body at the ground in front of her to the

With the metallic feather of a trick arrow caressing his cheek as he drew the arrow back across his bow, Roy Harper's eyes narrowed as he eyed what metallic gauntlets fastened around his hands with thumb triggers at his palms' reach. Circular red designs were etched across the exterior of the designs, along with other peculiar aesthetic designs that instantly piqued the always observant Boy Wonder's attention.

And as he produced his escrima sticks, he continued to scrutinize the technology they were wielding and mentally cross-referencing it against the various black market inventories he's analyzed before.

"You know, I oughta thank you kids for thinning out the competition. Snart was beginning to be a nuisance I'd have to deal with sooner than later, but why complain when three punk kids show up to do your job for you, eh?" he grinned.

"Personally, I was rooting for Snart," Whisper shrugged nonchalantly, while still maintaining her grip over the now writhing Kid Flash at her feet. "We were hoping those Central City hacks would get lucky enough to knock off the fast one, but that's a problem easily rectified."

"Neither of you are leaving with that tech," Roy declared calmly, the metallic arrowhead level with Bruno's chest and then O'Daire's leering expression.

Exchanging a knowing glance with his redhead, the Intergang leader was all chuckles as he turned back towards Roy. "Kid, you have no idea the power that's in my hands right now. Matter of fact, it's beyond what little you think you understand about this world."

"That's because it's _not_ in this world," Robin stated simply, still eyeing the gauntlets as he continued to speak. "Nothing in the criminal black market matches those designs, so I'm guessing you've been dealing with suppliers from other planets. Maybe other solar systems."

"Well ain't you a little detective!" he jeered, feigning shock at how quickly Robin deduced the source of their weapons. "Now, I'd go into more detail but as a professional I have to maintain total confidentiality with my client. I do take my job seriously, after all."

Reaffirming his smug expression, he let out an exaggerated sigh before speaking again. "So I guess you're just gonna imagine where I get my hardware from, at least in the last moments of life I let you have."

And with that, he snapped his right forearm towards the duo and unleashed a concentrated blast of pressurized air hurtling towards them.

"Scatter!" Robin's words barely resonated with the crimson archer, who by sheer instinct had already thrown himself to the side to avoid the blast.

Vaulting over a row of industrial barrels, Robin took cover and rummaged through his utility belt as Mannheim's attention diverted towards Roy.

Pressing the trigger again, Mannheim unleashed another blast that just barely missing the retreating archer, the full vibrational blast instead impacting a nearby industrial container.

Turning back to his lieutenant, he barked out a simple order: "Break his neck. I'll deal with his friends."

Nodding as he stormed off, she glared down at the restrained speedster with a particular sadistic glint in her eyes.

However, in an instant her hubris soon turned to horror as she soon found Kid Flash all the way up to a knee with both hands wrapped around his end of the energy whip.

"My...turn," he breathed out hoarsely, before clamping down on the whip and by sheer willpower forcing his legs back into motion.

Managing to run a circle around his previously kneeling position, the sudden shift in momentum forcing her off her feet and towards him as he found his footing and wrenched back as hard as he could.

Now with a surprised gape etched across her face, Whisper was catapulted forward in the air towards the battered speedster with the arm that the whip was coiled around nearly yanked out of its socket in the process.

Feeling the wind pound her face as she continued to accelerate through the air, her eyes widened as the concrete floor a few meters ahead unceremoniously cushioned her fall.

"Oomph..." Tumbling straight on her face before flopping to the floor, she rolled a good foot or two before catching herself and planting her elbows down.

Empty air caressed her fingers as she reached for the energy whip, eliciting a frustrated cry from the Intergang officer who lifted herself up to a knee.

Forced to use an alternative weapon, she fished in her jacket and produced a handgun of alien design.

Now staggering up to her feet, she started to aim it in Kid Flash's direction only to be hit with another surprise.

Barreling into her with as much force as he could muster at the moment, her body instantly crumpled as she flew backwards into a wall before finally collapsing to the floor.

Panting over her sprawled out form, Kid Flash painstakingly untangled the whip from his neck and began sucking in mouthfuls of air while at the same time massaging his trachea.

"You...are...not... a nice lady," he wheezed in between breaths, before the sudden sound of flesh hitting metal from the opposite end of the facility sounded throughout the warehouse.

Mannheim's fifth vibrational blast finally managed to hit Roy, knocking him off his feet and into a collection of sealed oil barrels. Hitting the mountain of metal shoulder first, his trusted bow slipped from his grasp in the process.

Groaning inwardly as he struggled to relieve the searing pain in the back of his head from smacking against the barrel, Roy Harper desperately tried to crawl free of the wreckage but found some resistance with one of the barrels pinned against his leg.

"Wouldja believe these are just the prototypes?" he remarked as he sauntered up to the hero, referring to his gauntlets before aiming one at his writhing body. "Now imagine what the finished product can do, say against a bank or better yet the Federal Reserve. Pretty sweet, huh?"

His answer was a series of groans and winces from the trapped Roy, who was inching briskly towards his bow.

"Well, for now I'll just settle for shattering your nervous system," he said darkly, just as a black cable looped around his forearm.

Pressing the trigger, the intended blast for Roy's spine instead shifted upwards and blew a good chunk out of the ceiling scaffolding. The cable had successfully yanked his arm upwards just as the blast was fired off.

This was followed up by the Boy Wonder sprinting towards the angered supercriminal as he fired off another vibrational blast only for Robin to duck out of harm's way.

Jumping off the ground just as the two were about to collide he soared above Bruno's initial volley of punches, twisting his body in mid-air to evade the metallic blurs.

Then, once he had somersaulted behind him Robin reared both boots back and mule kicked the base of Mannheim's neck to send him staggering him forwards.

Nearly losing his footing before shaking off the initial grogginess, Bruno whirled around ready to dish out some payback.

He only got one step ahead before Roy suddenly tackled him from his blindside, wrapping his forearms around his waist for leverage while attempting to take down the mountain of a man.

Unfortunately, despite the surprise maneuver Bruno refused to buckle and kept his feet planted on the ground.

Though his boots skated a considerable amount along the floor, he remained upright despite Roy's best effort to grapple him down to the ground.

Countering by locking Roy's unprotected neck in a side headlock as the two continued to wrestle for control, he instinctively redirected the momentum by lifting up his waist and hip tossing the archer off of him.

Throwing him to the floor easily, he chided the archer's efforts by clicking his lips together in a condescending _tisk-tisk_ sound.

Lowering his left gauntlet towards the now kneeling hero, he was once again all smiles. "You're gonna have to do better than tha-ugggh!"

Before he could finish, Kid Flash lit him up with a right cross while streaking past him at the same time.

Feeling his rattled jawbone as Kid Flash screeched to a halt beside him, Bruno began to teeter back and forth on his heels.

His head bloody but unbowed, Bruno started towards the speedster only for Wally to beat him to the punch, literally.

A second lightning-quick strike courtesy of the fastest kid alive to the now reeling Bruno had him stumbling all the way into Robin's aerial trajectory.

Swinging towards him with one fist cocked and raised, Robin swiftly socked him across the face before disengaging from the grapple gun and rolling out of range. The punch had jolted his head upwards towards the ceiling, causing his feet to almost trip over themselves as they pivoted a full 360 back around.

Legs wobbly and arms now hanging loose by his sides, his eyes drooped open long enough to see Roy Harper limp close enough to rear his fist back and deliver a thunderous punch that finally knocked the fight out of him.

Already unconscious as he hit the floor, Bruno Mannheim lay defeated at the feet of the three teenagers that he along with the rest of the criminals had so duly underestimated.

Reclipping his grapple gun, Robin wiped his soaked mane of hair with a sigh of relief as he stood next to the equally exhausted Roy Harper now standing tall over the Intergang leader.

The two exchanged glances, but no words were said. None needed to be, as their actions tonight had already spoken volumes.

A sudden gust of wind from their right signaled the return of Kid Flash, who handed Roy back his bow and joined their silent stance of solidarity as well.

Tonight was the night, but it wasn't over quite yet.


	7. Chapter 7

The Riddler couldn't believe it.

Months of carefully procuring weapons and items attractive enough to catch the common criminals banal eye, weeks spent scouting out nearly every abandoned warehouse in the city, not to mention the quite substantial sum he had to pay that meathead Bane and his associates to distract Batman for the night and all that inexplicably gets undone in less than an hour by a trio of children who are at best novices who have no business doing what they did.

And yet, he watched as wave by wave his potential customers, the likes of whom include paid mercenaries and career criminal, would be systematically taken down and incapacitated by these abhorrent adolescents.

Of all the indignities that he's had to endure, both personal and professional, that Edward Nygma has had to endure since embarking on his quest to become the smartest man alive this was by far the most egregious.

And yet, though the Riddler continued to glower resentfully at the three supposed 'heroes' standing over Bruno Mannheim he was not wholly disheartened by this truly unfortunate series of events.

Even in the heart of darkness, the light will always see its way through after all.

Tracing the briefcase that he held tight to his chest containing the most valuable and integral items from the now botched auction, the Riddler continued to watch when Kid Flash suddenly raced away from them presumably to gloat to his master about how exemplary a job they had done.

Nevertheless, he bit his lip to vent vocally later to his partners and got up to initiate his strategic retreat that he had postponed from doing earlier out of some naive hope that those criminal miscreants were as good as they claimed.

And so he did, turning towards the exit door only for familiar lightning emblem to suddenly appear before him.

"Hey buddy, we almost missed ya," Kid Flash smiled heroically, startling the alleged criminal mastermind who nearly tripped over himself stumbling back.

Nygma fumbled for his briefcase for a contingency device only to realize that in his usual paranoid tendencies he had locked it.

"Yeah, tonight's really not your night, Nygma," Kid Flash chided sympathetically, crossing his arms as Nygma continued to back away.

"No! No! I will not go to Belle Reve!" he insisted vehemently, before somehow conjuring up the fortitude to jab his finger menacingly at the speedster. "I'm the Riddler, you red-and-yellow simpleton! And I will not be forced to inhabit the same facility as those rabid, slothering deviants! Do you hear me? I'm the Ri-uggh!"

Roy Harper's fist sailed unapologetically into the Riddler's screaming mouth, knocking him out instantly.

"He was done," Roy said to them as Edward Nygma slumped down to the ground, his briefcase spiraling out of his reach.

And as he sprawled out on the floor, Robin was nearly beside himself in laughter. Clutching his sides as he knelt down beside him, he examined Nygma's now drooling face for a moment before looking back up at Harper.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure you knocked out his front tooth!" Robin laughed, pointing at the now noticeable gap in Nygma's front row of teeth.

Picking up the briefcase dropped by the now unconscious Nygma, Kid Flash carefully tucked it underneath his armpit.

"Good thing you kept an eye on the little weasel the whole time, Rob. Bats would've had our heads if we let him go with all the intel he has," Kid Flash grinned sheepishly.

"Nah, he would've just made us search the city all night 'till we found him. Trust me, not the best way to spend your Friday night," Robin remarked, before getting up.

"So uh, anyone hungry? After we finish reporting to the League, I could totally go for a Big Belly right about now. How about you guys?"

"I could eat. Least Batman can do is give us the night off, considering we just passed the final exam with flying colors," Roy agreed, as they all started towards the door.

"Yeah, if he's still in a good mood after the debriefing. Probably best if you let me do the talking," the Boy Wonder said.

"I hope he doesn't make us retake this to 'push ourselves harder' or whatever. Like, what's the next mission if we fail? Steal some bananas from Gorilla City? Teach Solomon Grundy a new nursery rhyme?" Wally joked dryly.

"Whatever comes next, we're a team now. No matter what Batman puts us through, that won't change. This was only the first," Robin responded.

"First of many?" Roy suggested hopefully, a sentiment shared by his brothers-in-arms.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

Exiting the warehouse a stark contrast from how they entered it, the new cemented team of defeated criminals and mercenaries who were all in some shape or form feeling the efficient brand of young justice dealt out by the teenaged heroes.

However, unbeknownst to them all their systematic defeat at the hands of Kid Flash, Speedy, and Robin was speculated on from above, through the same skylight that they had originally entered through.

Three male figures, shrouded by the night shadows, had observed the proceedings from outside of the now opened glass ceiling, watching without interfering during the entire duration in which the teenaged heroes crashed the auction.

The one in the middle was the easiest to discern, the dim moonlight only accentuating the demonic presence that his suit projected to the superstitious and cowardly. Sporting a Herculean physique beneath a dark black suit with armored padding from head to toe with a bat-shaped cowl to conceal his identity, his cape lightly danced behind him as he momentarily tore his gaze away from the scene below to address his colleagues. Only his bright yellow utility belt contrasted against his suit.

The man to his left, sporting a much leaner look, wore a crimson all-body suit complete with yellow boots and a lightning emblem emblazoned on his chest. Only his mouth and lower jaw were visible through his mask, with twin lightning-shaped earpieces on the sides.

Finally, the third male with a medium build merely crossed his blonde goatee inquisitively as he turned away from the scene to confer with the others.

Clad in an emerald green variant of the same shirt and pants that Speedy wore, his trusty bow and quiver were strapped around a light green vest. Every article of his clothing was colored green, including a hood that partially obscured his neatly combed blond hair and white domino mask.

"So, I don't know about you two but the kids did alright," the Flash finally spoke up, his naturally upbeat tone earning him a glare from the brooding Dark Knight. "Granted, mistakes were made. And there were close calls, more than I'm comfortable with to say the least. But, they still got the job done and made it out in one piece. I reckon that counts for something."

"I second that. Now obviously, I'm partial to my boy Roy but they each did their fair share to cover each other's bases and take the bad guys down. Sure, they can learn to do better but they've certainly got my vote," Green Arrow opined hopefully, before biting at his lips nervously waiting for the Dark Knight's interjection.

And as usual, Batman's opening statement was understated yet resonant.

"They performed adequately," Batman finally said, his stoic and unemotional tone as usual betraying no emotion.

"Yeah Bats, 'adequate' is stopping a grocery robbing and not getting yourself or any civilians killed in the crossfire. But what they did down there- juggling multiple hostiles, watching each other's backs, keeping the action contained inside the premises - heck I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit jealous. I mean, put me from five years ago in a warehouse with the Rogues alone and maybe, just maybe I'd survive by the scruff of my beard," the emerald archer pointed out.

"The primary objective was completed, yes, but had they initiated contact as a combined force from the beginning, completion of the mission would've been expedited exponentially. They fought like individuals sharing the same battlefield instead of teammates maintaining a constant line of communication and synergy," Batman retorted in turn.

"So basically just like the Justice League?" Green Arrow offered sarcastically, his typical sardonic writ failing to amuse the always analytical detective.

As the white slits on his cowl narrowed into diamonds, the fastest man alive quickly piped in, "Look Bruce, all Ollie's saying is there's definitely room for improvement but the League doesn't exactly set an ideal template for them to follow. Being honest, if people like Hal Jordan and Captain Marvel followed your orders right the first time we wouldn't even get in half the messes we do get in. Least we can do is cut them a little slack."

"You both have a point, but the fact remains that this team, while more than competent on their own, is not yet greater than the sum of their parts. Wally held his own considering how recently he acquired his powers but was caught off-guard in situations he ran into before properly surveying his surroundings. Roy did well as expected considering his age and training, but his ambition and drive to prove himself even in the thick of battle makes him reckless at times. And I fear Robin may be emulating my own field tactics to his team's detriment. Those were my biggest observations, though their performance as a team while flawed was still satisfactory."

"Okay, so there's a learning curve. Dinah can help with that, but for now why don't you add in Arthur's new protégé to balance the team dynamics out?" Green Arrow brought up, referencing the Atlantean prospect currently being mentored by Arthur Curry in Atlantis. "How about you, BA?"

"You got my vote. I've heard nothing but good things about that young man for a while now, and if Arthur's cool with it I believe he'd make an excellent addition to the team," Barry asserted confidently before continuing, "Either way, the kids who cleared that warehouse tonight all by themselves, I think could do some good out there. And I'd fight by their side anytime."

"So, what's the bottom line, Bats?" Oliver finally sighed, almost dreading Batman's response.

"They'll need more trials, individually and as a whole of course. And their track record against metahumans is still unproven. But…" His characteristically monotone scientific drawl trailed off in the end, before being replaced by an uncharacteristically warm smile.

" _They're ready."_

* * *

 **Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to thank you for reading through this story despite my admittedly long-winded paragraphs and monologues. It's a fairly self-contained and simplistic plot, I know but that was just so I could get a good idea of the characters' voices and hopefully portray them and their fighting styles as faithfully as I could to how they were in Season 1. So, if you enjoyed this story or even if you didn't please feel free to leave a review or PM me any constructive criticism whether positive or negative. Feedback is extremely important to me, as it motivates me to not only write more but improve my writing style. Again, any feedback whether through reviews or following/favoriting my story/profile would be greatly appreciated and would truly go a long way.**

 **I've wanted to write this story for a while now, probably ever since the initial announcement of Young Justice: Season 3 last year. I was a huge fan of the show when it first aired, and upon its revival I wanted to do a little one-shot featuring my favorite Team members from Season 1. So to clarify, "Final Exam" takes place a few months before "Independence Day" and is meant to showcase the brotherly bond between Roy, Dick, and Speedy that was alluded to several times during Season 1. Like the title implies, it was a field trial overseen by the League to see how well they can work together against varied opponents and by the end of the story they passed. Regarding the absence of Aqualad here, I wanted to introduce Kaldur in his own story, so if there's enough interest by you, the reader in seeing me write more in the YJ canon I'd love to continue writing these characters in their Pre-Season 1 incarnations and include Aqualad. But for now, I truly hope that I captured these character's voices to the best of my ability, and that you enjoyed me fleshing out villains like Captain Cold and Bruno Mannheim who were admittedly pretty one-note in the show. Snart in particular was a lot of fun to write, probably because I had Wentworth Miller's voice from the CW shows in my head the whole time, but I hope that I did him justice nonetheless. I also hope that I nailed Robin's wordplay and Kid Flash's youthful zeal pretty decently as well.**

 **On a slightly unrelated note, I am still devoted towards finishing the Batman Arkham City: Reconstruction story that I started a few years back. I took some time off of that story to complete this one, so rest assured that I will be updating Reconstruction sometime during the summer/fall. For readers who haven't read Reconstruction, feel free to skim through it and give me your thoughts and feedback on that as well. For those who have been keeping up, I promise that your patience will soon be rewarded.**

 **So yeah, again any feedback (positive and/or negative) or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll probably update this story a few more times this month with grammatical and logical revisions but I'm most definitely proud of the finished product. I check PMs regularly, so I'll respond to any advice or suggestions you have in a timely manner. I intended for this to be a one-shot, but if there's enough interest I have a few ideas floating around for sequel stories that feature Kaldur'ahm and more of the Justice League in action. Thank you so much for reading my story and stay 'whelmed! :)**


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